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Shab-e Yalda and fal-e Hafez
The longest night of the year, kept awake with fruit, poetry and a question put to the poems of Hafez.
About Shab-e Yalda and fal-e Hafez
Families gather on the night of the winter solstice to stay up together, since the dark is felt to be a time when evil is strong and the light must be kept company until dawn. Pomegranates and watermelon, red and full of life, are eaten, the watermelon in some homes said to protect against the cold of winter. The central custom is fal-e Hafez: someone makes a wish or asks a question, opens the Divan of the fourteenth-century poet Hafez at random, and the household reads the verse that appears as an answer. Using a book of poems as an oracle is old in Persian culture, and the habit has spread to Persian-speaking communities abroad. Poets and scholars note that the verses are ambiguous enough to fit almost any question, which many readers regard as part of the pleasure.
Entries tied to it
Also part of it, and being written: Yalda Night (The solstice vigil and its foods.), Hafez (The poet whose book is used as an oracle.).
Written by the EveryJaadu desk with AI assistance. Background: "Yalda Night" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family, and are described as belief and practice. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Bibliomancy: Albert Robida, Public domain, source